Quadrant charts

This section describes the quadrant charts, drill-down levels, and hyperlinks of the Software Contract Summary Report that can be used for comprehensive analysis of budgeted, historical and projected spending.

Billing Month vs. Usage Month

The billing month is the month IBM invoices for payment of MLC costs that accrued from a usage month in the past. In all cases, the billing month is one month after the end of a usage month. For example, the billing month of March corresponds to the usage month of January.

The Software Contract Summary Report displays all cost data based on the billing month. It is important to note that when using the billing month in a chart to hyperlink to the Monthly Summary Report, Cost Analyzer opens the corresponding usage month in the Reporting tool.

Tip

Since the view tabs at the bottom of the Monthly Summary Reporting tool identify the Usage Month, use the banner at the top of the Monthly Summary Report to identify the Billing Month.

Source of cost data

The charts of the Software Contract Summary Report contain the following types of monthly cost data as described in the following table:

Table: Cost data types

Cost data

Description

Budgeted

Budgeted amounts are based on values contained in the Software Contract and defined by the administrator.

Usage

Usage data are based on cost models built from Model Builder Tasks. A usage month starts on the 2nd of the current month, and ends on the 1st of the next month.

Once all cost models from a usage month have been built, they serve as the historical record of the monthly spending and are accessed by the Software Contract Reporting tool when calculating the cost data of the report.

Actual usage data for a month replaces projected spending only after all cost models have been built for the complete month.

Note

All cost models for a complete usage month are usually available starting from 0000 hours of the third day of the next month, but this availability cannot be assumed because it depends on whether all the data for the usage month has been processed.

Projected

Projected costs are based on historical usage, LPAR MSU usage, and Product LPAR licensing.

Projected spending extends for the duration of the contract. The projections differentiate weekly shift periodicity and distinguish day-of-month, hourly variance. Linear projections are made for each shift for each LPAR and LPAR Licensed Product, with detailed results available through the monthly cost model reporting.

Note

Projected spending does not contain any seasonal adjustments.

 

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